Car-door



G. TRIER.

GAR DOOR.

(No Model.)

No. 396,903. Patented .13.11.29, 1889.

11r 111111111111 114v/11111v111/11I111W111 11111101111111111111 1111 r11/1111111111111 Av1 111111111, 1111111 III N. PETERS, PhuwLnhegLwnnr, wnshingwn. D. C.

CONRAD TRIER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CARmDOOFt.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 396,903, dated January 29, 1889. Application filed .August 21,1888. Serial No. 283,356. (No model.)

To all who/1L it 11mg/ concer/L:

Be it known that I, CONRAD TRIER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cool; and State of Illinois, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Grain-Doors for Cars, ot' which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in doors for freight-cars, and especially cars of the kind generally in use for the transportation of graimwhich close only the lower portions of the openings in the sides of the car, and which when opened or not in use are raised toward the top of the doorway and swung to horizontal planes, where they are held by mechanism provided for thepurpose.

The objects of my improvements are, first, to provide guides for the door on opposite sides of the opening of improved construction, which shall, when the door is raised, prevent the possibility of its being shaken from its elevated position by any jarring to which the car may be subjected; second, to afford an improved form of retaining device to secure the door in its adjusted position when swungl back to a horizontal or substantially horizontal plane 5 third, to ati'ord shields on the door-casing adjacent to the lateral edges of the door to prevent grain from being jai-red out between the edges of the door and its casin by the motion of the car while in transit, and, fourth, to provide an improved. form of lock to hold the door firmly down when closed.

To these ends my invention consists in the general construction of my improvements; and it further consists in details of construetion and combinations of parts.

In the drawings, Figure l is a broken sectional elevation ot' a grain-car, showing one side of its interior provided with my improvedconstruction of grain-door; Fig. 2, a broken perspective `View taken on the inside of the ear and illustrating the grain-door as elevated and swung back; Fig. 3, a broken sectional view of an upper portion of the car, showing my improved means for retaining the door in its horizontal elevated position 5 l, a section taken on the line i et of Fig. 3 and viewed in the direction of the arrow; and Fig. 5, a broken partly-sectional view of the door and casing, showing my improved locking device for the door.

A is a car, of which A is the floor and A2 the roof.

B is a plate, which forms, also, the upper part of the door-case, and D D are the doorposts.

E is a grain-door of the kind generally in use, closing only the lower part of the dooropening and overlapping the door-posts D at opposite edges.

E E are metal guide-loops, firmly secured to the grain-door to embrace the latter toward upper opposite corners and project beyond its lateral edges, as shown.

F F are strips of stiff metal, iirnily secured toward opposite extremities, respectively, to the door-posts D and plate B, and bent in the manner shown to aiford guides, preferably inclining away from the door-posts as they extend upward, and to afford, also, toward their extremities shoulders o', depressed seats, s, and recesses s.

The guide-loops E surround the guides F, and, as the door is raised to open it, slide upon the latter to the heightof the shoulders r, when the sides of the loops E toward the outside of the car enter the recesses s', and the sides of the loops toward the inside of the car are drawn over the shoulders r to the seats s, into which they descend as the door is released and operate as hangers. While in this vertical position the door as it rests on the seats s is', owing to the shoulders vr, secure against danger of being jarred from its elevated position by motion of the ear, and especially by the bumping to which a car while side-tracked for unloading is apt to be subjected by the switching of cars about it. This feature of my improvement is important for the reason that in stormy weather or when the sun is beating down upon that side of the car it is frequently desirable during unloading to have the door, when elevated in vertical position, to close the upper part of the dooropening.

G G are swinging catches depending from the ceiling of the car, preferably at a distance corresponding with about two-thirds of the height of the door E from the door-posts D. When it is desired to clear the entire open- IOO ing, the lower end oit the door is swung upward, the guideloop hangers E turning in the seats S. The swinging catches G hang normally in the paths o'i' the lateral edges ot the grain-door, and as the latter is swung past them they are forced aside and afterward swing back of their own accord to engage with and retain it. The arrangement oi catches above described, beside the security they at'- 'lord over the retaining-hooks commonly in use, which engage the door at its lower edge, prevents warping ot' the door. lVhen a graindoor has been exposed to the rain and is suspended, while wet, at opposite extremities, it has a tendency to sag at the middle, which in a great measure destroys its utility. \Vith my disposition ot the catches this di'fliculty lis obviated, as they engage the door at opposite edges between its middle and free end and uphold the part which would otherwise have a tendency to warp.

II II are shields secured to the door-posts D on the inside of the car and arranged to receive the lateral edges ot the grain-door E. Each shield ll formed, preferably, from a single metal sheet or plate, bent to aitord three sides and form. a channel t'or the reception of the lateral edges of the door. Each shield is fastened in place on one side, and its opposite side is cut away toward the top to facilitate the gnidaneeot the door into the channel. The shield li performs the double oiiice ot' preventing the escape of grain between the lateral edges of the door and the casing and of holding the door firmly in place against the door-posts toward its lower side.

My improved construction oli' guide, by ai'- 'fordiug a depressed seat for the door-hanger E on its upper side, makes it impossible to lower the door unless the latter is iirst brought to a vertical position. A jarring motion of the car, therefore, cannot disen gage the guideloop hangers from their seats and canse the upper end of the door to drop Awithout the disengagement first of the lateral edges ot' the door from the swinging catches G, which a jarring motion oli' the car cannot affect. Then the grain-door is down or closed and the car loaded with grain, ii'rbccomes .necessary to secure the door iirmly in its closed condition to prevent its being raised by the jarring of the car while in transit, which would permit the grain to leal( out. I there* fore provide locking mechanism I I upon the door-posts to engage the door at its upper edge and hold it down. The locks I comprise each a latch, q, and locking-bar p. Each latch q comprises a metal bar provided with a longitudinal slot, q', a flange, q2, a shoulder, (f, and a lifting-hook, q". The latches are pivoted to the sides oi the door-posts, adjacent tothe door-opening, by headed pins qi. rlhe slots q allow the latches te be slid back and forth upon the pins q, and in thev most advanced position ot the latches the flanges q2 engage the inner side ot' the grain-door E, as shown. lVhen withdrawn to bring the forward ends of the slots q to the pivots the latches may be readily turned out of the path of the door. The locking-bars p are pivoted at p to the door-posts, above the latches q, and when the latter are advanced and engage the door, as above described, the ends of the locking-bars tit against the shoulders qs, as shown, and prevent raising of the latches, which thus lock the door. It is obvious that only one lock I might be employed, instead of two, and that the slot q', flange q2, and lifting-hook Q on the latch could be dispensed with, as they are merely desirable adj uncts, which are not necessary to the operativeness ot the device.

lVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. In a freight-car, the combination, with the graindoor E, of gu ide-loop han gers E upon the door and guides E upon the door-casing, provided toward their upper extremities with shoulders rand depressed seats s on the outer sid es oli' the guides, substantially as described.

In a freight-car, the combination, with the grain door E, of guideloop hangers E upon the door, guides F upon the door-casing, provided toward their upper extremities with shoulders fr and depressed seats s on the outer sides otl the guides, and catches G, depending from the ceiling ot' the car in the path of the lateral edges ot' the door E, substantially as described.

3. In a freight car, the combination, with the door E, of guide-loop hangers E upon the door, guides F, provided toward their upper extremities with shoulders r, depressed seats s on their outer sides to receive the loops E', which slide upon the guides, and recesses s on the inner sides of the latter, catches G, depending vfrom the ceiling of the car in the path oi' the lateral edges of the door E, and vertical shields II along the lower portions of the sides of the 'door-casing, provided with retaining-flanges for the door in its lowered position, substantially as described.

CONRAD TRIER.

In presence ot-n M. J. BowERs, .I lV. DYRENFORTH.

IOO

IIO 

